Nightmarish Knight
by Riversparks
Summary: After Nightmare was defeated, the residents of Dreamland thought that their troubles were over. But to everyone's horror, Nightmare returns. A little later, Dreamland's Knight mysteriously falls ill. Could these two events be connected? And with Dedede up to no good, it's not easy to answer questions that have bothered them for a long time. Rated T to be safe.
1. 1: Trouble in Training

**Chapter One**

 **Trouble In Training**

"Master, have you recovered fully from our enemy's attack? Recently they let their guard down, which creates the perfect chance to strike! They will never see our attack coming!" A rhino-like demonbeast advised a figure lurking in shadows that were darker than midnight on a moonless night.

"I will soon be ready... Prepare the battleships..." The figure hissed. Those fools... Thinking they won... Ha! He could never truly be defeated as long as they was hatred and darkness in the universe. And there was plenty of those. So much in fact, that he had been revived less than a day after they had beaten him. Ever since he had been lurking in his cambers in his old fortress, gathering his strength.

"Yes sir! Right away!" The rhino demonbeast bowed and left the room. As it did, it heard it's master say, "They will pay for their insolence! They will learn to never cross the great Nightmare!"

* * *

"Please Meta Knight-kyo? Can't Kirby stay and play? Nightmare is gone. Does he really still need to train?" Bun whined. He had been trying to help Kirby become better at soccer, but Meta Knight had interrupted their practice game with a request that Kirby come with him to train.

"Of course he still needs to train. Nightmare might be gone, but many demonbeasts survived. And there are still many beings out there who wanted to take Nightmare's place. Now they have an opportunity to do so. With the help of the demonbeasts that survived, they will be a formidable force. We must still be on our guard." Meta Knight replied. Bun sighed and pouted but said, "Fine. Go train." Meta Knight nodded slightly and turned to Kirby.

"Come Kirby. We'll train at the field over there." Meta Knight gestured to a field behind him and started walking in that direction. Kirby smiled and ran up to Meta Knight.

"Poyo!" Kirby exclaimed.

"Meta Knight-kyo, can I ask a question?" Meta Knight turned at the voice. It was Fumu, the smartest person in Pupu Village. She had been reading in the shade of a large tree. Meta Knight's eyes turned pink as he said "You just did." Fumu and Bun stared at him in surprise.

"Did you just make a joke?!" Bun asked, looking flabbergasted. Meta Knight ignored him and looked at Fumu.

"Well? What is your question?" He asked her expectantly.

"Oh, um... What are skill are you teaching Kirby today?"

"I am going to teach him how to fight without a copy ability." Meta Knight responded in his normal, flat tone.

"That seems pointless. Why does Kirby need to learn how to do that?" Bun asked while leaning back against the tree that Fumu had been reading under just a minute before.

"Sometimes, an enemy will be attacking too fast for Kirby to have time to inhale. Therefore, he won't be able to get a copy ability. If this happens Kirby will be left defenseless." Meta Knight stated as he turned and walked over to where Kirby was waiting and handed him a sword. "Now, try and hit me!" Kirby responded with a resolute "Poyo!" and swung the sword, but Meta Knight easily parried it. The two seemed evenly matched, shown by how neither one was getting a hit in. But after a few minutes, Meta Knight slipped past Kirby's guard and got a few hits in that knocked Kirby off his feet. Meta Knight stepped back to give the puffball a chance to recover from the hard blows he had dealt him. To Meta Knight's surprise, Kirby recovered instantly and got a few hits on him that to Kirby, Fumu, and Bun's shock, sent him flying away a few feet. Kirby dropped his sword and rushed to the knight's side while Fumu and Bun watched, dumbfounded. How could he have gone flying like that? Kirby certainly hadn't hit Meta Knight than he had a few moments ago, and yet he had gone flying. And furthermore, he hadn't gotten up. Surely he couldn't be unconscious?

"P-Poyo?" Kirby said, sounding uncertain. Running up to Meta Knight with Fumu close at his heels, Bun asked, sounding scared, "Meta Knight-kyo, are you okay?!" Very slowly, Meta Knight got back into his feet with a quiet grunt of pain.

"I-I'm fine." Fumu walked a little closer with a concerned expression.

"You don't look fine..." She said nervously. As she finished her sentence, Meta Knight suddenly dropped to one knee and his eyes started flickering between red and yellow. All of his muscles had gone rigid and his breathing was quick and short. After a few seconds he groaned and passed out.

"Sir Meta Knight?!"


	2. 2: Life is but a Nightmare

**Chapter Two**

 **Life is but a Nightmare**

 ** _Meta Knight's Perspective_**

I opened my eyes slowly. I was surrounded by a shining star field as far as my eyes could see. Since I was currently standing on nothing, I instantly knew that I was having a nightmare because I do not have dreams. Only Nightmares. As I noticed the lack of a solid surface underneath my feet, a richly colored purple platform slowly formed beneath me.

"Hello, _Meta Knight-kyo_ " A voice that I know and loath broke the silence that had enveloped me from the moment I opened my eyes. The voice seemed to come from all directions, but I know better. _He_ was likely somewhere behind me. Without turning around, I said icily,"Nightmare. What do you want?"

"Only one thing. You."

"Me?" I feigned surprise. "Why do you want me? I thought all Star Warriors were weak and pathetic."

"You know as well as I that you are not a Star Warrior."

"And why do you say that?" I asked slyly as I continued to play dumb.

"You know exactly what I mean!" I could tell that Nightmare was growing frustrated. Given enough time, I could figure out the nightmare's weakness and escape, but that took far too long, and I had no interest of spending more time than necessary with _him._

"I have absolutely no clue what you mean."

"DON'T PLAY DUMB WITH ME!" Nightmare roared. I smirked slightly under my mask. That was exactly the reaction I was hoping for.

"I'm coming for you, Meta Knight..."

* * *

"He has no sign of sickness, though it might be hidden underneath all his armor." I heard someone say as I slowly regained consciousness.

"If he's not sick, why would he collapse like that?" I heard a girl ask. Momentarily confused, I wondered why they were talking about me. Then it all came rushing back. Training with Kirby... Then the intense pain I felt. I contemplated opening my eyes to see what they were doing, but I knew the glow that they emitted would instantly alert Fumu and Doctor Yabui to my consciousness. And I could rely on my ears just fine.

"I don't know Fumu-sama. Meta Knight-kyo is unlike any other patient that I've treated. I know nothing about his DNA, or his biological structure, or anything about him. We'll just have to hope that he gets better on his own."

"Well, why can't you get his armor off to examine him?" Fumu sounded impatient. Evidently she was irritated by how she thought the doctor was being idiotic.

"I've tried. The mixture of straps and clasps holding it all on isn't like anything I've seen before. I tried cutting it, but my scissors couldn't cut it. The only one who could figure that mess out is Meta Knight-kyo, and I doubt he will take off his armor for a checkup. He never has, and he most likely never will." I mentally chuckled at Dr. Yabui's words. I had carefully organized the straps of my armor for a situation just like this. I don't want anyone else treating my injuries other than myself. There were too many risks of poisoning and such.

"Oh. Well, I'll be going then. Tell me if he wakes up, okay?" Fumu sounded embarrassed. No doubt she had thought that Doctor Yabui, like most of the cappies, was extremely idiotic and hadn't thought of taking off my armor. I heard the sound of footsteps, and then the sounds of a door being opened and then closed.

"Well, it's far past time for me to take my lunch break. Don't go anywhere Meta Knight-kyo." Doctor Yabui said to me as if I was awake and could hear him. Which of course, I could. "Hahaha... Why am I even bothering? You can't hear me." He chuckled to himself and walked out of the room. As soon as I was sure he was gone I opened my eyes and sat up. There was no point in me remaining there. As Doctor Yabui said himself, he had no idea what to do for me. I would be much better off recovering on my own and figuring out why that sudden burst of pain had happened. I went over to a back window, opened it, jumped out, and sprinted towards the forest. There was a clearing there that would be acceptable. Large, empty, and most of all, hard to find. As I sprinted towards the forest at a high speed I couldn't help wonder if my origins had to do with what happened while I training Kirby...

* * *

Far away in the deepest, darkest, depths of space, a rhino-like demonbeast jumped back as its master suddenly snarled.

"Damn him! How dare he resist me?" The shadowy being snarled, slamming his hand down on one of the many chessboards scattered across the room, breaking it into many pieces. The rhino demonbeast jumped back in fright; it had seen its master in moods like this before and it had never ended well.

"M-master, the invasion will begin in three days. Y-you will make him pay then!"

"Has the mirror been created yet?" Nightmare asked, sounding eerily calm considering his recent burst of anger.

"Y-yes sir!" The demonbeast said, eager to do anything to make his master happy.

"Then resume contact with our... Client and sell it to him. It will prove to be a useful pawn in this game."

"R-right away sir!" The rhino demonbeast saluted and scuttled out of the dark chamber that his master called home.


	3. 3: I just wanna sleep!

Author's note: First of all, I am so, so sorry for keeping you all waiting so long for this chapter. I have been really busy lately, and I haven't had much free time and along with the fact that I've been a bit lacking in inspiration for this story has delayed this chapter far too long. Second, thanks to everyone who reviewed, I look at your reviews every so often and it reminds me that I need to work on this story, because there are people who like it! Surprisingly. Considering the fact that the chapters are terribly short and infrequent updates make me rather surprised that anyone is still following this story. Anyway, on to the actual chapter before my word count becomes even more inaccurate.

* * *

 **Chapter Three**

 **I just wanna sleep!**

Dr. Yabui rushed out into the town square yelling, "Fumu-sama! Fumu-sama!" At the sound of his panicked voice Chief Bookem ran over to where the doctor was standing.

"Is something the matter, Yabui?" Chief Bookum asked him, sounding calm but concerned.

"I-it's Meta Knight-kyo! H-he's gone!" Dr. Yabui stuttered. "Oh Fumu-sama is going to have my head..." He moaned.

"Okay, okay, just start from the beginning. Why are you so concerned about Meta Knight-kyo disappearing? Everyone knows that he comes and goes as he pleases.

"W-well Fumu-sama had brought him over because he had suddenly passed out. When I examined him, he didn't seem like he was going to wake up anytime soon, but when I took a lunch break for less than ten minutes, he was gone! The window was open too!"

"Hmm... So he's missing. I suppose the only logical thing to do is send out search parties and see what turns up." As he said this, Chief Bookem tilted his head slightly and took out a megaphone.

"Thank you Chief Bookem. You always know what to do in a crisis!"

"Heh... Not really." He scratched the back of his head nervously. "Ahem. ATTENTION ALL RESIDENTS OF PUPU VILLAGE. YOU ALL ARE BEING CALLED TO THE TOWN SQUARE FOR AN EMERGENCY GATHERING. ATTENDANCE IS REQUIRED. THANK YOU." Chief Bookem said slowly and carefully into the megaphone. Waves of cappies flowed into the town square like a trickling stream. When all the residents of Pupu Village had gathered, Chief Bookem once again spoke into the megaphone. "YOU HAVE BEEN GATHERED HERE BECAUSE-" He was interrupted by a shout of, "WE CAN HEAR YOU JUST FINE WITHOUT THE MEGAPHONE YOU KNOW!" Chief Bookem looked sheepish as he put the megaphone down on the ground.

"Sorry. As I was saying, you all have been gathered here because Meta Knight-kyo has gone missing and it has been decided that the most logical course of action is to send out search parties looking for him. Any questions?" Silence greeted his words. Then noise so loud that if Mike Kirby had been singing, his singing would be drowned out by all the voices talking at once.

"What?!"

"Why?!"

"Doesn't he go 'missing' all the time?!"

"He can look after himself!"

"Why should we care?!"

"I don't care about him! I just wanna sleep!"

"SILENCE!" Chief Bookem roared into the megaphone. Everyone immediately stopped their whining about sleep and not caring. "We have reason to believe that this is not one of Meta Knight-kyo's normal disappearances. We believe that this was a kidnapping!" Hell broke out again with a flurry of voices.

"What?!"

"Who would be stupid enough to do that?!"

"You're crazy!"

"Yeah, you've lost it Bookem!"

"Who cares?! I just want to sleep!"

"LET ME EXPLAIN!" Bookem yelled over the din. "Meta Knight-kyo had been taken to the doctors unconscious for undisclosed reasons, and when he was left alone for a short period of time, he had disappeared and a window that had previously been closed was now open. This evidence points towards someone taking advantage of Meta Knight-kyo being unconscious and kidnapping him. Now, does anyone have any complaints about looking for him?"

* * *

Meanwhile...

"ESCARGOON!" Dedede yelled at the top of his lungs while a poor snail rushed to his side in the throne room of the castle."Yes Sire?" Escargoon inquired.

"I WANT A DEMONBEAST!"

"S-sire... You know that NME was destroyed... There aren't any demonbeasts left aside from Lololo and Lalala and you already rejected them."

"WELL MAKE A DEMONBEAST!"

"M-make a demonbeast? S-sire, you must be joking!"

"Well Triple D, today's your lucky day, because today is the official reopening of Nightmare Enterprises!" A familiar voice said, his voice accompanied with a ' _whir'_ noiseas a giant screen came out of a panel in the wall and a machine came out of the floor.

"No, that voice... It can't be..." Escargoon whispered.

"Oh yes it can!" Customer Service crowed triumphantly. Dedede laughed and said, "Just in time! I want me a demonbeast!"

"And we have the perfect demonbeast for you! We came up with this mirror that reflects a mirror version of whatever looks into it. Of course, we can fine tune it so that it only will do that for one thing at no extra cost." Customer Service said as a picture of a golden mirror with large wings on the sides with stars and a crown adorning it replaced his face on the screen.

"Heh heh hah! That sounds cool! I'll take it!" Dedede exclaimed. Customer Service merely grinned and pressed a button on a remote. As he did so, the transporter began to glow. It glowed brighter and brighter until you could barely look at it. When it finally dimmed, there was the mirror from the image sitting on the machine. "Now, who should I turn into a demonbeast first?"

"May I make a suggestion your highness? How about turning Meta Knight into a demonbeast? The mirror version looks exactly like the original, and I've heard of a few rumors stating that Meta Knight has gone missing, so this would be the perfect chance to make some mischief."

"Heh heh heh! Meta Knight won't know what hit 'im!" Dedede laughed. "Now to get it someplace where he will see it..."


	4. 4: The Mirror of Truth

Author's note: Well MyKnightLife, if you thought you were blessed because of an update, what do you think of two updates, in the span of a few days? I've been working on this story like crazy lately, so I can have an excuse for the next time I take forever lol. Nah, just kidding. And, later in the chapter I will mention the dungeon of Dededes castle. I don't remember how it looked in the anime so I improvised, so if you wondered why it didn't seem like it did in the anime when you read that part, that's why. Anyway, responses to reviews:

MyKnightlife: The mirror will be used on Meta Knight in this chapter, so just read on to find out what happens! And I have been working on chapter length, as shown from the difference from the prologue and the last chapter; 159 words compared to 1,041 words.

RedDawn: As you can see, there is more! I'm planing on seeing this story to the end, especially as I have some great plot twists in mind. My lack of updates usually stem from two things: Either lack of inspiration or lack of free time. I've had a great idea in my head for a while, and I had it all planned out; the scenery, the thoughts going through the characters head, all the details of it. All I needed was a place to use it. And I finally am using it in this chapter. Yay!

Anyway, on to the chapter. WARNING: Blood ahead for the next paragraph. Part of the reason I switched this to a T.

* * *

 **Chapter Four**

 **The Mirror of Truth**

 ** _Meta Knight's Perspective_**

I opened my eyes quickly. Where was I? The last thing I remembered was going to the solitary clearing... Then that pain again, though this time I couldn't have blacked out shown by the fact that I was standing. I looked around at my surroundings. I was standing on a river bank with the forest a few feet away behind me. On the other side of the river the trees were much closer to the bank; They leaned over the river making it impossible to see the sky. Suddenly, I felt something bump against my feet. I looked down and felt horror stab through me. There was the bloodied body of a forest creature lying dead at my feet. In its body Galaxia sat, its edge covered with the animals blood. Said animal appeared to be a wild boar. It was not easy to tell however, as its body was butchered nearly beyond recognition. I felt sick to my stomach. Did I do this? I had to, I was the only one who could wield Galaxia besides Kirby, and he was nowhere to be seen. But why did I do this, and why couldn't I remember doing it? Could Nightmare have...? No. He couldn't have. He hasn't done so in thousands of years, so why would he do it now...? I shook my head. Now was not the time to be mulling over how the boar had died; something had to be done about its body. I reached down and pulled Galaxia out of its body and cleaned it in the river quickly. I noticed as I cleaned Galaxia that my gloves were soaked with blood as well. I grimaced. Apparently, whatever had happened, I had very clearly been making this poor animal's death as painful as possible. But why would I? I had never taken pleasure in the pain of others, so why would I ever do this? I sighed. All these questions and no answers. It made me feel like I was young again. Weak, defenseless, and helpless. I shook my head decided to stop dwelling on what had happened and concentrate on getting the blood out of my gloves.

A few hours later I had finished burying the boar and I had taken a step back to examine it's grave. It was mostly unmarked, with the only sign that it was a grave was the rock I had placed on it, and that could be dismissed as a natural occurrence. I felt a pang of sorrow. Its life had had been taken needlessly. Much like the thousands of lives the war had taken... I felt a tear trickle down my face. At its touch I quickly stopped thinking about the war. There was no need to dwell on the past. It was gone and there was no way to change it. I shook my head looked up at the sky, trying to gauge the time. The act was futile and unnecessary. One, I could not see the sky as the trees were thick in the part of the forest I was in, and two, I did not need to see the Sun's position to know that it was three hours, forty-two minutes and twelve seconds precisely until sunset. For anyone else it would have taken them more than double that time to get out of the forest, but I knew the forest well from exploring it frequently to make sure I was never unprepared for having to go in it. I gave my gloves a slight shake to get some dirt off of them and ventured into the shadows of the forest to take the quickest route I knew to get out the forest. With any luck, I would get back to the castle two hours, ten minutes and fifty-five seconds exactly before sunset.

* * *

I walked over the drawbridge of the castle and frowned. I had arrived at the castle ten milliseconds late. "Too slow..." I thought. I sighed. Another imperfection to fix. I wrapped my cape around me in my usual fashion and began heading to my room to meditate.

"Meta Knight-kyo! Wait!" I heard Waddle Doo call. I turned. "His Highness King Dedede requires your presence in the dungeon right away!"

"In the dungeon? Why?" I questioned. His Highness wasn't very fond of the dungeon, as it wasn't nearly comfortable enough to his tastes. I was more neutral towards it; it just brought back memories that I would rather forget. Waddle Doo looked uncomfortable at my question.

"He... Didn't say. He just said it was urgent." I noted his hesitation between 'he' and 'didn't'. Something was amiss. Normally I would ask for a period of time to prepare before such an occurrence, but what Dedede was planning could have something to do with the odd happenings lately.

"I will head there right away." I told Waddle Doo and walked quickly to the entrance of the dungeon. As I walked, I wondered exactly what the king wanted. When I got to the entrance of the dungeon, I saw Escargoon waiting for me.

"You're late." He sneered.

"My apologies."

"Well come along. His Highness is growing impatient." Escargoon led the way down the long winding stairs that led to the dungeon.

"META KNIGHT YOU LAZY BONES! YOU'RE LATE!" King Dedede yelled when he saw me. He was standing just beyond the archway that led to the room that was just before the cells of the actual dungeon and was obscuring my view of the room beyond him.

"My apologies Sire. I was tending to other matters."

"No matter. I need you to look at something!" If I hadn't already known that something was wrong, I would certainly have then. The king never forgave things that easily. His Highness stepped aside and motioned for me to walk into the room that lay beyond him. I did so and surveyed my surroundings. It looked as it normally did, empty, dusty and old, aside from one thing. A giant gold mirror adorned with wings, four stars, and a crown.

"That is a... Pleasant looking mirror Sire. Now what did you want me to look at?" My voice tightened at the first part of the sentence. I never was one for looking at my reflection, and that mirror was a little too... Fine for my tastes. I preferred more practical things. Not things that were purely meant for decoration.

"The mirror you fool! Look at the mirror!" Dedede exclaimed.

"I... Do not understand sire. Why did I need to come examine a mirror?"

"Just take a close look at it!" Dedede ordered.

"...As you wish Sire." As I moved closer to the mirror I began to feel the chill that I associated with something bad about to happen. I regretted not asking for a period of time to prepare. I mentally scolded myself. It was just a mirror. I had faced many more terrifying things than a mirror. Eventually I was right in front of the mirror. Slowly, I placed my gloved hand on the mirror. Instantly the mirror's surface turned dark. I jumped back. What was going to happen? Slowly, the mirror became light once more... Except for the very center. The darkness at the center slowly formed a shape. It was slightly circular, and it wore a tattered cape and held a sword. Ever so slowly, it gained color until it had red shoes, a dark grey body, a silver mask with a deep crack in it, a grey tattered cape, a silver sword, and pale yellow eyes. With horror, I realized it was a mirror version of me, aside from its coloration of course. I stepped back and drew Galaxia. Even if it could not leave the mirror, it was better to be prepared than dead.

"What is this mirror?" I asked King Dedede. Instead of getting a response, instead I just got a laugh. I grimaced. Evidently I was to "investigate" the mirror on my own. I watched the mirror for a few more seconds, when to my horror, the mirror version of me began to move. My grip on Galaxia tightened. Was it going to attack? To my surprise, it simply got in a battle ready stance and didn't try and leave the mirror. I narrowed my eyes underneath my mask. What was my mirror self trying to do...? A minute passed of just me and the mirror version of me staring each other down. Then suddenly, faster than you could blink, my mirror self rushed forward out of the mirror to attack. I was able to dodge the attack, but just barely. I attempted to counterattack, but my counterpart blocked it. We stayed at a stalemate for a while, neither one getting an attack in. Then Dedede yelled, "Just get an attack in already! This is so boring to watch!"

Surpised by the sudden noise, I looked over at him. The mirror copy took advantage of this and slammed the blunt side of it's sword against my head. Stunned by the hard hit, I could do nothing as my counterpart picked me up and threw me into the mirror. It's surface rippled and I felt a sensation similar to going underwater when I hit its surface. The next thing I knew was that I was in the mirror looking out at my counterpart. As I watched, he snapped his fingers and his appearance changed to look like me. I realized what Dedede's plan had been. Trick me into getting stuck in the mirror, then use my counterpart to fight Kirby. I realized what a fool I had been. I deserved to be in this mirror. I had acted idiotically and now I had to pay the price.

"Heh hehe! Now, _Dark Meta Knight_ , go fight Kirby!" King Dedede laughed. "Dark" Meta Knight nodded and ran out of the room. I felt a stab of concern for Kirby. I had always held back from using my full strength whenever I was around him, the townsfolk, and even Sword and Blade. But Dark Meta Knight certainly wouldn't. There was no way Kirby could stand against my full strength. I would have to find a way out of my glass prison, and fast.


	5. 5: Darkness

Author's Note: ...I have now found out just how hard it is to write combat scenes. I mostly wrote this chapter in short bursts because I couldn't think of what to do next for the combat. Let's just say that it was a lot better in my head than it is on paper.

Responses to Reviews:

RedDawn: ...What makes you think Dedede is a fast runner? And by the end of the next chapter, Meta Knight is going to have something that makes him just about the fastest thing alive. Let's just pray that Meta Knight is feeling merciful right then. Because if not... I'll just leave that to your imagination. I have to keep this a T or lower after all.

MyKnightlife: Yeah, that might have been what was going through my head when I wrote that chapter. I'm not quite sure what I was thinking, lol. It just came to me and I thought it was a good idea so I used it.

Question for you all. Does Meta Knight have a head? Just wondering, considering that his body is entirely spherical aside from his feet and arms. Anyway, here's Chapter 5: Darkness's Vengeance!

* * *

 **Chapter Five**

 **Darkness's Vengeance**

"Okay, so who should go where?" Chief Bookum asked the gathered cappies. They had eventually agreed to send out search parties and were now discussing who was in each search party and where the search parties should go.

"That will not be necessary." A voice with a Spanish accent spoke.

"Meta Knight-kyo!" Chief Bookum and Dr. Yabui exclaimed nearly simultaneously."I-I thought you were missing!" Chief Bookum stuttered.

"Perhaps you should have considered that I might have just left." Meta Knight said as he tilted his head. Cringing, Chief Bookum called out to the cappies, "Sorry everyone! False alarm!" Lots of grumbling met his words as everyone but Dr. Yabui and Chief Bookum went back to what they were doing before the meeting. Looking at Dr. Yabui, Chief Bookum shrugged and went back to the station.

"But Meta Knight-kyo, are you sure you're fine? Perhaps you should-"

"I'm fine." Meta Knight interrupted Dr Yabui, his voice tense. "Do you know where Kirby is? I must tell him something. It is of the uttermost importance."

"No, I don't. But he's likely to be with Fumu-sama and Bun, he usually is." Dr. Yabui said slowly. "Are you sure you're okay Meta Knight-kyo? You're acting odd."

"You do not need to be concerned about me." Meta Knight said stiffly as his eyes turned a slight shade of red.

"But-" Meta Knight silenced him with a glare. Meta Knight stayed a moment longer then stalked off to find Ki rby.

* * *

"Come on Kirby! Kick the ball in at least my general direction!" Bun whined as Kirby yet again failed to kick the soccer ball anywhere but where Bun was. Meta Knight snorted. The child was so incompetent, defeating him would not be a challenge, Meta Knight thought. Bun and Kirby were practicing soccer a safe distance away from a cliff overlooking a forest that was much smaller than the one that Wispy Woods called home. Fumu was sitting closer to cliff reading a book and making sure that Bun and Kirby didn't go too close to the cliff while they were playing.

"Kirby." Fumu, Bun, and Kirby all looked over when they heard Meta Knights voice.

"You're awake! Are you feeling better?" Fumu asked as she walked over.

"I am feeling fine. Kirby, may I speak to you in private?" Meta Knight acknowledged Fumu's question before addressing Kirby.

"...Poyo?"

"What do you need to talk to Kirby about? Whatever it is, you can say it in front of me and Bun."

"As you wish. I wish to duel with Kirby once more, to _gauge_ his strength." As Meta Knight said this, he smirked under his mask. This was too easy!

"Okay... Just don't hurt him, okay?" Fumu requested.

"Of course not." Meta Knight pledged as he drew Galaxia.

"Wait, doesn't Kirby get a weapon?" Bun suddenly said.

"...No. Kirby must be resourceful and find a copy ability he can use." Meta Knight told him. Kirby having a copy ability would ruin his entire plan! He gave the surrounding area a quick scan to make sure that there was nothing that Kirby could get a copy ability from. Having made sure that Kirby would be mostly defenseless he asked, "Kirby, are you ready?"

"Poyo!" Kirby responded and got into a fighting stance. Meta Knight nodded and made a motion for Kirby to make the first move. Kirby charged right at Meta Knight, looking like he was going to strike to Meta Knights right side but instead tried to mimic a punching move that Fighter Kirby used to Meta Knights left side. It would have easily knocked an ordinary opponent unconscious from that blow because of how strong it was and because Kirby was moving so fast there would be no hope of them dodging. But Meta Knight was not an ordinary opponent. He dodged the blow with ease and smacked Kirby with the flat side of Galaxia, making sure to hold back a little to ensure that the children didn't get suspicious of his true plan.

"Too slow." Meta Knight chided. He allowed time for Kirby to get back on his feet then rushed over hit Kirby with five quick strikes then one final blow that sent Kirby flying high into the air. When Kirby landed Meta Knight didn't give Kirby a chance to recover this time but instead did three swings with Galaxia. The first one was with the flat side but the second and third strikes were with the very tip of Galaxia with the third knocking Kirby away precariously close to the edge of the cliff. When Kirby got up, he had a a medium-sized cut to the upper right of his right eye. Fumu gasped and glared at Meta Knight.

"You promised not to hurt Kirby!" Fumu shouted at Meta Knight furiously. He turned slightly towards her.

"Did I? I lose my 'Knights honor' then." Meta Knight sneered, then chuckled slightly. Fumu and Bun both stared at him. Meta Knight never acted that uncaring. Even when Meta Knight was fighting Kirby or when he wasn't exactly on their side, he always made sure that they didn't get hurt. And Meta Knight had a chivalric code, which Fumu knew that meant that he couldn't break a promise. Then why was he disregarding the fact that he just broke a promise?

"How could you? You promised! Don't you care?" Fumu yelled at Meta Knight, trying to make him understand.

"Not particularly." He replied callously. Fumu sucked in a breath quickly. No. He couldn't be doing this, could he? She glanced over at Bun. He appeared to be too stunned by Meta Knights behavior to do anything. Fine then, she would deal with this herself, Fum thought.

"You're not the real Meta Knight-kyo, are you? You're an imposter, sent to hurt Kirby!" Fumu cried.

"Of course I am the real Meta Knight. You just can't handle the fact that your childhood "hero" isn't what you thought he is." Meta Knight taunted. He turned back towards Kirby. "And now to deal with the _pest_." He said with hatred dripping off his voice. Meta Knight charged at Kirby, but before he could attack him a sword beam traveled through the ground to his left. Everyone looked towards where it had come from. Standing on a hill, was Sword and Blade, who were standing to either side of Meta Knight.

"What's going on?! Why's there two Meta Knights?!" Bun yelped. The Meta Knight standing by Kirby growled.

"Looks like my little _ruse_ is over." He sneered as he snapped his fingers. Glass then exploded off of him and obscured him from view. When he was visible again, his mask was cracked and his cape tattered. His eyes were a pale yellow and he was mostly gray except for his shoes that were blood red. Galaxia had also morphed to a silver color and its gem that was previously a fiery red color had been replaced with a cold blue. Fumu and Bun gasped while Kirby just gave a confused "Poyo?"

"Meta Knight, it is a _pleasure_ to have you join us. Truly, it is a _great_ honor. But I'm afraid that I must end this here." Dark Meta Knight derided, his tone implying deep loathing of Meta Knight. Dark Meta Knight turned towards Kirby and in one motion, pushed Kirby off the cliff.


	6. 6: Flight

Author's Note: So I've edited some mistakes in some previous chapters that I noticed while reading through and while I was doing so, I noticed a rather large inconsistency throughout the story. While I was using the Japanese honorific "Sama" for Fumu, I was using "Sir" for Meta Knight, instead of the honorific "Kyo". So that's been fixed and from now on Meta Knight will generally be called "Meta Knight-kyo."

Response to Review:

Guest: Glad you like the chapter! And yeah, I suppose it makes sense that it wouldn't restrict Kirby's and Meta Knight's movements.

Not many reviews this time around. Come on guys, if you don't have anything to comment on, give me some criticism! And even if you do have something to comment on, still give me some criticism! I know I have room for improvement! Help me out here!

* * *

 **Chapter Six**

 **Flight**

 ** _Meta Knight's Perspective_**

For a moment, all was quiet as everyone registered what had happened. Then a yell pierced the silence like a sharp knife piercing though skin.

"No! Kirby! Warp star! Hurry!" Fumu yelled desperately, rushing to the side of the cliff to watch Kirby. I hurried to her side; I would have to act quickly if my doppelgänger did what I suspected he would do. As the warp star neared the cliff, Dark Meta Knight raised his sword.

"The child must die. I cannot let you interfere!" He shouted as he sent out a gleaming silver sword beam at the warp star. The sword beam sliced the warp star in half in a shower of golden sparks. The two warp star pieces slowly sank to the ground, now a pulsing dark turquoise color. Fumus eyes widened in horror.

"W-why... Why would you do this?" She stammered. Dark Meta Knight shrugged.

"Because I feel like it." He said simply. I narrowed my eyes. It was astounding how different me and my copy were. I suppose it shouldn't be a surprise; he did come from a mirror after all so it is to be expected that he is a mirror of me in every way, whether it's in strength or in personality. But he could be dealt with later; first I had a certain pink puffball that was going to fall to his death if I didn't do something. That something was something that I had avoided revealing for as long as I could. But now it's reveal was inevitable. I sighed. I would have to deal with lots of uncomfortable questions later. At my louder than expected sigh Fumu glanced over at me.

"Meta Knight Kyo, you have to do something! Help him!" She exclaimed, obviously panicking now that the warp star was of of commission. I shut my eyes tightly and mentally cursed myself. Why did I have to be so foolish of meeting his Highness unprepared? I breathed out deeply. I could not delay it any longer. I slowly reached up and removed my cape. Before anyone could react to what lay folded on my back, I jumped off the cliff.

I spread out my leathery bat wings, listening to the pops and cracks that came from them not being moved in a long time. For a brief moment I closed my eyes and simply enjoyed the heady feeling of wind in my wings. It had been so long since I had last flown, I had all but forgotten how great it felt to soar through the air. I felt an overwhelming desire just to fly away and never look back, but I had a job to do, and that was to rescue Kirby.

My eyes snapped open and I tilted my wings to an angle that would cause me to fall at a much faster rate. Kirby might have a head start on me, but due to the facts that I weighed more than Kirby due to my armor and my wings were specifically designed for speed, whether it's for flying or for falling, so I was quickly catching up to Kirby. Speaking of a certain puffball, said puffball was currently screaming his head off and crying. It was quite pathetic, considering he had faced much more painful deaths at the hands of Nightmare and his demonbeasts.

I tilted my wings to a steeper angle so I could go faster. Kirby was getting closer to the sharp rocks that pointed out from underneath the water than was comfortable. Kirby finally realized that flailing around and screaming was not the way to avoid the rocks and fortunately stopped doing so and attempted to suck air into his body so he could float. Unfortunately, Kirby was falling too fast and he couldn't get the air to stay long enough for him to float. But, it slowed him down enough for me to catch up.

I tilted my wings back to slow down and grabbed Kirby by one of his small arms.

"Poyo?!" He exclaimed and looked up at me. Kirby broke into an awed smile when he saw me and my wings. "Meta-poyo has wing-poyo?!" I smiled under my cold metal mask. At least Kirby didn't mind my demonic-looking wings. I pulled Kirby up and held him not unlike how one might hold a baby. I began to pull up so that we wouldn't crash into the rocks that were precariously close. Unfortunately, I had built up too much momentum from the fall and wouldn't be able to fly back up. Instead, I'd have to do some careful dodging. I leveled out and prepared for the sharp right turn I'd soon have to do. I sloped down slightly and quickly swerved around a rock.

"Just a few more..." I muttered to myself. "Then we can fly back up." I said a bit louder, making sure that Kirby heard me. Kirby looked up at me and smiled, awe and adoring in his eyes. I felt a surge of wonder go through me. Kirby's innocence always caught me off guard. It was astounding how he was still childlike and carefree after all he had gone through.

I swerved around a few more of spear-like rocks and soon in front of me was just open sea. I sighed with relief. I banked right and curved up back up to top of the cliff. I landed lightly on the ground and set Kirby down on the ground gently. He turned back and looked at me. It was easy to tell that his admiration for me had only grown through the experience. With Kirby it was easy to reveal my wings. But now for the hard part. I turned my attention towards Fumu and Bun. They were staring at me, dumbfounded at the sight of my large bat wings.

"M-Meta Knight-kyo..." Fumu whispered. She seemed unsure of what to say about my wings. But Bun was not so divided.

"Y-you have wings?! What are you, a demonbeast?" I cringed slightly. That was too close to the truth for comfort.

"I am what I am, but I assure you, I am not your enemy." I told him.

"B-but what are you?" Fumu questioned.

"I am what I am. I cannot change that." I stated, maintaining my neutral tone. Fumu started to say something but was interrupted by Dark Meta Knight taunting, "Yes, what are you, Meta Knight?" I turned towards him and frowned under my mask. Explaining would have to wait. I currently had a bigger issue taking the form of a masked, gray, sword-wielding copy...


	7. 7: Wickedly Plotting

Author's Note: Dedede's accent to just too funny to leave out XD That is one of the few things from the dub that I actually kinda like. Speaking of the dub, there are a few things I'd like to say about it and this story. Obviously you all have noticed that I am using Hoshi no Kabbi names, and not names from the dub. However, there are a few things that I am taking from the dub, such as NME instead of Holy Nightmare. Some character's names from the dub will be used, but there are also a few that I am using both the dub and Hoshi no Kabbi's names. "How?" You are likely asking. Well, you'll have to wait and see! So on to the reviews!

Myknightlife: You know, there's a reason there's a "Stay signed in" button. I joined a writing program recently that's focused on improving your writing, so that's maybe why it seems a lot better? Or maybe it's because I'm used to writing in 1st person and not in 3rd. Or maybe it's because I was describing how Meta Knight saw what was happening and Meta Knight notices a lot of things. Honestly, I have no idea. Yeah, in the first few chapters I was still trying to figure out where to break it up without it seeming forced, and how to get to one event to the next and it ended up being really short. I'm going to go back and fix up those chapters when I finally get a large block of free time where I can update and fix up mistakes. Throwing a curve ball? If only I was that good at baseball in real life... Yeah, it's not a Meta Knightmare fic if it doesn't have his wings I suppose. I was kinda stuck at the rocks part so I just ended as gracefully as I could. Another thing to edit when I get the chance. That's one of my favorite parts. "I felt like it." I just love Dark Meta Knight. He's so cute and fluffy! *Clears throat* Anyway, I made him do that and say that for two reasons. One is because he's the opposite of Meta Knight in every way. While MK cares deeply about honor, DMK couldn't care less. MK has a reason for everything, DMK does what he wants when he wants. MK wears his mask because he is extremely secretive, even with himself, and because he wants to be taken seriously, DMK wouldn't even wear his mask if it weren't for the fact that he didn't want to ruin his uncaring badass look. The other reason is that I needed a way to remove Kirby's warpstar so MK could fly around and have nyan cats following him. Wait, that isn't what happened?

Anyway, on to chapter seven!

* * *

 **Chapter Seven**  
 **Wickedly Plotting**

"What a' the new demonbeasts? I wanna clobber dat der Kirby!" Dedede roared at the NME sales guy.

"Hold your horses Your Highness!" The Salesperson held up his hands in a surrendering position. "We haven't exactly made any new demonbeasts yet, but we have updated some previous demonbeasts and made them even more powerful and vicious!" The Salesperson lowered his hands back out of view.

"What a' they?! I need me some powa'ful demonbeasts!" Dedede slammed his fist against the arm of his chair. "They betta' be strong! Kirby defeated all da otha' ones!"

"Easy there Triple D, you might break something!" The Salesguy taunted. The screen changed to a dark room, however platforms with the silhouettes of demonbeasts on them could just barely be seen.

"First up is... Deajaa!" A spotlight clicked on over a pedestal, illuminating the demonbeast standing on it. As its name suggested, its appearance was similar to Denjaa, except it now was much larger and was a dark blue color. It also now had six arms, red eyes, and was wearing much more armor. Dedede gasped at its appearance.

"Now that is a demonbeast!" He whistled. The Salesguy chuckled and continued on.

"Next is... Stomach Destroyer!" Another spotlight came on, displaying a larger version of Belly Buster, except having fifteen hands and being a nice shade of periwinkle. Escargoon wrinkled his nose in disgust and said, "What's with the color?" The Salesguy ignored him and continued on.

"Up next is... Kokon!" A light turned on revealing a blood red Popon.

"Isn't that just Popon, but red?"

"Kokon isn't edible." The Salesguy explained flatly. The Salesguy sighed, as if saying, "Just look at the idiots I have to deal with," then continued with the final demonbeast.

"Last but not least is... Hell Frog!" The final spotlight turned on to reveal that the changes to the Demon Frog had been to make it smaller, add fangs, and make it a dull chartreuse with the star on its forehead being a bright orange.

"No way I is letting that frog near mah castle eva' again! 'E nearly killed me!" Dedede exclaimed at the sight of it.

"But don't you remember how badly you hurt Kirby Your Highness? And it wasn't the Demon Frog that nearly killed you, it was Heavy Anaconda." The Salesguy rationalized. "Now that it is more powerful, you could use it to obliterate Kirby, provided it possessed the right person." The Salesguy grinned. "Or a certain so called star warrior..." He added underneath his breath.

"I'll take it!" Dedede exclaimed.

"Great, I'll send it right away. I'll also add a holding container so you can make sure it possesses exactly who you want it to at no extra cost!"

"Download!" Dedede pressed the button on the armrest of his throne and watched as the transporter glowed and sparks flew around it. Once the light faded away, a large canister was sitting on the transporter. Escargoon went over and examined it.

"Is the Hell Frog... You know... Able to breathe in there?" He questioned. Indeed, it did appear that the frog would suffocate, as the container was completely solid and there were no holes for air either.

"We modified it so that it wouldn't have to breathe. These new models are designed to have all of the strengths of the originals, with none of the flaws!" The Salesguy explained. "Speaking of possessing, how did the mirror work out with Meta Knight?" Dedede frowned sullenly.

"It made a clone, but thanks to his stupid assistants or somethin' he escaped. So da mirror was useless."

"Actually, even if the original is no longer in the mirror, the clone still remains. So right now, Dark Meta Knight is out there, beating up Kirby!" The Salesguy smirked.

"ESCARGOON! WHY DIDN'T YA TELL ME DAT THE CLONE REMAINED YA IDIOT?!" Dedede howled.

"S-sire... You don't need to yell... I'm right here..."

"QUICK! I WANNA SEE KIRBY DESTROYED!"

"Y-yes Sire... Right away Sire..." Escargoon whimpered. Dedede lept out of his throne and ran out the doors of the throne room, with Escargoon following close behind.

"They are falling perfectly into our trap... Soon we will have the strongest demonbeast back under our control..." The Salesguy said once they were out of hearing. "And then... _Nothing_ will be able to stop us!"

* * *

In NME headquarters, a serpentine demonbeast could be seen slithering down a hallway that was shrouded in darkness as fast as it could. It's master had called it in for a report and it did not want to be late, knowing what happened to the last demonbeast that kept Nightmare waiting. It reached the end of the hallway and carefully pushed open the doors that led to its master's chambers. It slithered into the dark room where it's master stood, facing away from the door. The room was perpetually dark, much like the hallway before it, but unlike the hallway there were no walls or ceiling as far as the demonbeast could see. Instead, there was a starscape that seemed to stretch far into the distance.

"You're late." The demonbeast knew better than to say that Nightmare hadn't specified a time, so it meekly said, "My apologies Master." Nightmare sneered but moved on to business.

"What of the project? How is it coming along?"

"Our customer has bought the Hell Frog and the mirror. The rebel has been copied and the clone has struck. The rebel and the clone are locked in combat." The demonbeast summarized as simply as it could, not wanting to anger its master more than it already had.

"Good. The rebel will be shunned by the people when they learn of his secret, and he will have no choice but to come back to us."

"Master, may I ask a question?"

"What is it?" Nightmare sounded amused by the notion.

"What of the pink one? The rebel seems to care deeply about them. What if the rebel decides to stay with the pink one and not come to us?"

"He will come to us. If he does not, everyone he cares about will die, starting with the pink one..." Nightmare's voice took on an angry tone and the demonbeast backed away quickly.

"B-but Master..."

"DON'T BUT ME! HE _WILL_ COME TO US!" Nightmare roared and his fists clenched. The demonbeast jumped back in fright and hurriedly left the room. Panting, Nightmare said, "The rebel will come back. He _will_ be mine once more."


	8. 8: Dark Duel

Worde cannot describe how I feel about this chapter. In simple terms, it's terrible. I was just not feeling this chapter, and so this horrendous thing was born. It was meant to be better but... Like I said, I was just not feeling it for this chapter. So I'll just stop talking and let you all enjoy this horrific chapter.

* * *

 **Chapter 8:** **Dark Duel**

Meta Knight unsheathed Galaxia and the blade appeared in a shower of sparks. In response, Dark Meta Knight tilted his head and said, "Finally done delaying the fight?"

"No, I finished fixing all of the problems you created. If you think about it, you were the one delaying, not me." Dark Meta Knight made a sound a amusement.

"Heh, you got me there. Now, shall we begin?" Dark Meta Knight asked as he unsheathed his sword as well. Meta Knight nodded. Dark Meta Knight immediately charged at him and swung his sword at him sloppily, which Meta Knight easily blocked. In response to his attack, Meta Knight attacked by quickly swinging Galaxia four times. Dark Meta Knight blocked the first two but his second two strikes slipped past his guard.

"I was going to go easy on you, but it seems like you won't go easy on me. Evidently you're not that considerate. All I hear about you is that you're so strong, cool, kind, and extremely brave. Clearly everyone is wrong about you. You're not kind. Oh, wait, now that I think about it, you're none of those things!" Dark Meta Knight laughed.

"My apologies. I thought that you were just warming up. Well, now that you are all warmed up, how about we start the real battle?" Meta Knight replied smoothly, ignoring his insults.

"Oh, that wasn't the real battle? Good, I didn't think it was." Dark Meta Knight said, his tone filled with malicious intent. Dark Meta Knight cast off his cape, and unfolded his wings. They were, as expected, just like Meta Knight's, except grey and they were tattered and torn. Meta Knight gripped Galaxia tighter, and launched up into the air, with Dark Meta Knight following close behind. The two of them flew heigh up into the air. When they stopped, they were little more than two purple and grey specks a short distance away from each other. The grey speck and the purple specks flew towards each other and collided with a loud clang. They spiraled away from each other, with Dark Meta Knight flying slightly slower than before. The two of them continued to do this, with it impossible for those on the ground to tell who was winning.

* * *

A fancy looking car rolled to the top of a nearby hill and a penguin followed closely by a snail leapt out of it. King Dedede looked around using some binoculars, and when he didn't see what he was looking for, he shouted, "Escargoon! Where a' Meta Knight and 'is copy? I don't see 'em anywhere!"

"W-well, there's Kirby and those meddling kids, so the copy has to be nearby. And Sword and Blade are here as well, so Meta Knight has to be here too." Escargoon rationalized.

"Then where a' they? They have ta be here somewhere, but I don't see 'em!" Dedede yelled.

"Umm... The kids are looking up... So maybe they're up in the sky?" Escargoon said nervously.

"UP IN DA SKY?! HOW WOULD DEY BE UP IN DA SKY?!"

"I-I don't know Sire!" Dedede directed his binoculars up towards the sky and immediately sputtered in shock. He rubbed his eyes and looked again. "What is it Sire? What do you see?" Dedede wordlessly gave him the binoculars in response, too stunned to speak. Escargoon brought the binoculars to his eyes then passed out in shock, and Dedede soon followed his example.

* * *

Meta Knight turned back towards Dark Meta Knight and gritted his teeth. This fight was getting nowhere: the two of them were perfectly matched in strength. He needed a way to turn the battle in his favor. Then it came to him. Meta Knight charged towards Dark Meta Knight, same as before, but when they grew near to each other instead of attempting to either attempt to strike Dark Meta Knight or block an attack, he spun in a drill like fashion with his sword pointing towards Dark Meta Knight, catching him off guard. Dark Meta Knight fell stunned towards the ground, but he recovered himself quickly and flew back up long before he hit the ground.

* * *

"What's happening? Who's winning?" Bun asked Fumu, his eyes trained on the battle.

"I don't know... I think the copy or whatever it is was just falling, but it could have just been the real Meta Knight's mask that I was seeing." She replied, concern in her voice.

"Oh. Well, Meta Knight-kyo better beat up that imposter real good for what he did!" Bun declared. "How did that person get the armor to pretend to be Meta Knight-kyo anyway? It made them look just like him!"

"Meta Knight told us that the imposter is a copy created by a mirror." Blade interjected.

"Huh? What kind of mirror creates copies?"

"He said that the mirror was likely made by Nightmare." Sword explained.

"What?! But Nightmare was destroyed by Kirby! How could he have created the mirror, and how could have Dedede gotten his hands on it?" Fumu exclaimed.

"Poyo poy!" Kirby added firmly.

"Well... Uh... He didn't say how exactly." Sword said uncomfortably.

"Hmph. Well, Meta Knight probably knows these kinds of things better than we do." Fumu said, though she looked uncertain.

"Hey, do you know why Meta Knight has wings?" Bun asked suddenly after a few moments of silence other than the clangs coming from above.

"...No. We didn't know until now." Blade said.

"So he kept it a secret from everybody..." Fumu whispered.

"Did you say something sis?"

"No, it's nothing."

* * *

Dark Meta Knight flew back up so that he was level with Meta Knight.

"Are you really so desperate to defeat me that you stoop to low blows like that?"

"We are evenly matched. I had to spice things up a little."

"Yes, I suppose there a nuance to this fight. Shall we 'spice things up a little?'" Without waiting for a reply, Dark Meta Knight promptly dived towards the ground. Meta Knight narrowed his eyes, then quickly followed suit. He flew quickly to catch up, but Dark Meta Knight was also accelerating at the same rate. Suddenly Dark Meta Knight slowed down, surprising Meta Knight. He attempted to slow down, but before he could Dark Meta Knight looped up and dealt a barrage of blows. Meta Knight managed to block a few, but the rest of the powerful attacks connected. Dazed, Meta Knight went into free fall towards the ground.


	9. 9: Face Yourself

Okay, I know this chapter is late, but I actually have a good reason for it. The simple explanation is that I was working on a different writing project, which I was devoting all the time that I normally use for this story on. The more in-depth explanation is on my profile page, which you can read if you want to. Also, I think you all have figured out what my specialty is: cliffhangers.

MyKnightlife: I suppose you're right about that chapter, it was just that as I was reading it, it just didn't seem right to me. Also, there are more witty remarks in this chapter, so hope you enjoy it.

A fanny: Well, the resolution to this fight (Finally!) is in this chapter, so you'll just have to read it and see! But you'll have to wait until the next chapter to see Fumu's reaction to his wings because that's not in this chapter.

Abymoosh911: Heh, there are cliffies because I enjoy seeing you all suffer. :) Just kidding. They're there because I like to write them and they make a good way to end the chapter. And I'm glad you think this story is good! It encourages me to think that there are people that think this story is good when I'm feeling like this story is absolutely rotten and terrible.

Anyway, on to the chapter!

* * *

 **Chapter Nine  
** **Face Yourself**

Fumu looked up at the blue sky, squinting against the bright sun. She was trying to see what was happening in the duel, though it wasn't easy due to how high up the combatants were.

"Um, I think one of them is falling. I can't tell who." She told the others. But she was soon able to see that it was Meta Knight, and he was falling without any sign of trying to stop his decent.

"What is he doing?! Why doesn't he fly back up?!"

"I don't know Bun. Maybe it's part of a strategy he came up with?" Fumu said, though she didn't sound sure. "I just don't know..."

* * *

Meta Knight snapped out of his daze with a start and immediately cringed as he felt a searing pain in his right wing. One of his copy's attacks had created a large gash in the thin membrane of his wing. The gash made the wing useless for flying, and gave him no hope in flying back up. His only option would be to glide down to the ground and hope that he wasn't at too much of a disadvantage now. Meta Knight leveled his wings out and started into a slow glide towards the ground. As he landed he staggered slightly from the pain in his wing. He flicked his wings to shake off the pain then folded them neatly on his back. The injured swordsman looked up towards the sky to see where Dark Meta Knight was. His copy was flying around and doing tricks, presumably taunting him about his torn wing. He sighed and prepared to send three sword beams at the copy, but before he could do so Fumu and the others rushed over.

"Meta Knight-kyo! What happened? Why aren't you up there, fighting the imposter?" He took a deep breath before unfolding his injured wing, hissing at the pain the movement brought.

"I'd be back up there if I could. But I can't, and to try would only make the injury worse." Meta Knight refolded the wing, ignoring the shocked looks they were giving him. "Now, stand back. I don't want any of you near this fight. It may get a little... destructive, and I don't want any of you to get hurt." He looked back at them with the corner of his eye. Sword and Blade immediately went back to where they were before, having learned to trust Meta Knight's orders, but Fumu and Bun were more hesitant about the matter. When they didn't step back Meta Knight sighed. "It'd be best if you stepped back sooner rather than later." The two siblings exchanged looks, then hesitantly stepped back to where Sword and Blade were.

With the others out of the way, he finally shot those three sword beams at the copy. Dark Meta Knight glanced over at the sudden golden glow approaching him, and dodged the first two beams with little trouble, but while he was focused on those two, the third was coming close to colliding with him. The copy noticed it before it hit him, but too late for him to properly dodge. Left with no other option, the copy attempted to dive downwards to evade it, but instead of his body taking the brunt of the hit, it was his wings instead. The sheer power of the sword beam cut Dark Meta Knight's wings clean in half in a spray of glass. The cut off pieces of the wings fell with bits of glass flaking off of them until they shattered, sending glass everywhere. The copy screamed in pain and fell towards the ground at a high speed, much faster than Meta Knight had. Dark Meta Knight hit the ground with a dull thud and found his legs unable to support him, falling to his knees. Meta Knight took a step back, his eyes glowing orange. He hadn't expected the sword beams to be that effective. His copy propped himself up on one arm, panting.

"You... You'll pay for that!" He snarled. Meta Knight arched an eyebrow and tilted his head.

"Really? How much?"

"...A lot."

"Oh, that's unfortunate. I haven't gotten my pay from King Dedede in quite awhile." The copy flinched back in response to the comment with his eyes a bright crimson. He lashed out at Meta Knight, swinging his sword sloppily. Meta Knight parried the blow with ease and brutally struck the copy's sword hand with the flat of his sword, having a theory that he needed to see if it was true. And indeed it was: the copy's right hand shattered into pieces of glass at the blow with his sword falling to the ground. Dark Meta Knight quickly picked up his sword from where it had fallen to ground and held it somewhat awkwardly with his left hand.

"D-damn you!" The copy snarled.

"Hm. It appears my suspicion was correct. That's unfortunate. I was hoping that this fight would require bit more effort than that."

"At least I know who I serve. I won't be defeated by someone who doesn't even know who their loyalty is to!"

"'Who my loyalty is to?' I believe you're mistaken. I know perfectly well who I follow."

"Oh, so you're aware that you serve Nightmare? My my. You're certainly very conflicted, aren't you? Serving Nightmare, but trying to kill someone who also serves him? Such divided loyalties!" Dark Meta Knight tsked at him. Fumu and the others gasped and waited to see Meta Knight's response to the accusation. Meta Knight flinched back with his eyes glowing orange. He quickly recovered and his eyes burned red.

"I have _never_ served Nightmare. I have always been on my own or serving the GSA." His copy shrugged at this.

"If you say so. I don't believe it, but that might just be me. Anyway, let's just get to the point." Dark Meta Knight charged at Meta Knight and swung his sword three times, but he was unaccustomed to using his left hand and only the second one came near Meta Knight but even that one was easily blocked. Meta Knight did a flurry of quick sword swings, most of which hit the copy. Little bits of glass flaked off of the copy with every hit that landed on him, and over the course of the battle quite a lot did. After a few minutes of them fighting the copy was beat up badly, while Meta Knight looked hardly the worse for wear if you forgot about his wing.

"You were... Stronger than I expected... But... I... refuse to be defeated!" Dark Meta Knight roared and attacked Meta Knight one last time. Meta Knight parried it, knocking the copy back. The copy fell to his knees, panting. Meta Knight sent a sword beam at Dark Meta Knight, finishing him off in a burst of glass.


	10. 10: Impossibility

**Author's note:** Well, this chapter turned out nicely! It doesn't have much action, but it does well to wrap up the part of the story focusing on Dark Meta Knight and introducing Nightmare's return. Looking back, this chapter probably should have been part of the last one, but eh. I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do for this one, and I wanted to get that chapter up, so it was split into two chapters. Speaking of two chapters, some of you probably have noticed that the prologue is not longer a prologue, and is instead part of chapter one. I've done some editing of previous chapters, fixing errors, adding more detail, etc. There weren't any major changes other than the removal of the prologue and a change in the first part of chapter four. Anyway, I'd like to say thanks to the only reviewer of the last chapter, 'AA'. I'm appreciate that you think so highly of this story! And now that all that's done, on to the chapter!

* * *

 **Chapter Ten**

 **Impossibility**

With a loud groan, King Dedede slowly sat up. Blinking his eyes rapidly, he looked around. He was lying on the ground behind a hill with Escargoon leaning over him with a concerned expression on his face.

"Oh! Sire! You're awake! I thought you were never going to wake up!" He sighed with relief.

"Ugh... Where am I?"

"Erm... S-sire, don't you remember? We were watching Kirby get beat up by the copy?" At his words, Dedede's eyes widened and he jumped up to his feet. He scanned the ground frantically, then snatched up the binoculars at his feet.

"Oh yeah! What happened? Who won?"

"I-I don't know Sire... I woke up a few minutes before you did..."

"ESCARGOON YOU USELESS USE OF SPACE!" Dedede roared and slammed his hammer on Escargoon's head, knocking him unconscious. With a sigh at Escargoon's incompetence, he lifted the binoculars to his eyes to see just what was happening. He might not be able to hear them, but he would certainly spy on them.

* * *

"So... The copy... Um... 'Dark Meta Knight,' was created by a mirror?" Bun asked. As Dedede and Escargoon were conversing, he and the others had gathered and were discussing the copy.

"Correct. Nightmare sold the mirror to Dedede, which Dedede used to create the copy and trap me in."

"Later, me and Blade freed him from it, and, well, you know the rest. We came here, and Meta Knight-kyo defeated the copy."

"Wait a second. How did Dedede get the mirror if Nightmare is gone? Kirby defeated him." Fumu narrowed her eyes skeptically.

"Nightmare feeds off of the darkness in people's hearts. Hatred... Anger... Malice... It strengthens him. A few warriors have managed to temporarily weaken Nightmare, but none have defeated him as totally as Kirby did. I had hoped that there wasn't enough darkness in the universe to revive him, but unfortunately, it was not to be." Meta Knight explained wearily. His words were met with silence and wide eyes. After a few moments, Bun sputtered out, "W-wait a second! Are you saying that it's impossible to defeat Nightmare?! W-why didn't you mention that before we aggravated him?!" The old knight shook his head.

"Everyone can be defeated. It's just a matter of finding their weakness. Besides, Nightmare's attention was going to turn to Popstar sooner or later due to Kirby's presence. He would see Kirby as a threat; as something to be eliminated."

"Speaking of Nightmare and his demonbeasts, I have a question for you Meta Knight." Fumu interjected. The aforementioned knight turned his attention towards her. "How do you know so much about Nightmare? You knew exactly where his fortress was, you know how he would react to certain things and what many of his demonbeasts are and their weaknesses. And you have those wings that you've hidden from everyone, even Sword and Blade! So, all of this has lead me to one question. Meta Knight, are you a demonbeast?"

For several long moments Meta Knight was silent. His eyes remained their neutral yellow, giving no clue as to what he was thinking. Then he sighed.

"Fumu, answer me this. If I was a demonbeast, why would I be assisting Kirby? Why would I be fighting Nightmare, the creator of demonbeasts?" Fumu looked at a loss for words, but quickly recovered.

"Because you're trying to gain our trust, then stab us in the back when we least expect it?" Meta Knight laughed at her words, and was met with a stare from the others.

"That's doubtful. Most demonbeasts aren't bright enough to follow such a concept, let alone come up with it."

"I... Um... That makes sense." Fumu admitted, scratching the back of her head in embarrassment.

"So what should we do now Sir? Do we wait for Nightmare to make the next move or..." Blade trailed off, looking to Meta Knight for advice.

"We should prepare for demonbeast arrivals as best we can and-" Meta Knight suddenly grunted in pain and dropped to one knee, breathing heavily. Sword and Blade rushed to his side as Fumu and Bun exchanged looks and approached Meta Knight much more carefully.

"Meta Knight-kyo! Are you alright?!" The knight didn't respond, instead letting out another groan as his eyes began flickering between a lingering red and yellow. His wings slowly slipped out from their folded position and instead hung limply from his back. Slowly the flickering stopped and his eyes came to rest on his normal, while dimmer than usual, yellow.

"I'm... I'm fine." He said, still panting.

"Sure poyo?" Kirby asked, speaking for the first time since the copy was defeated.

"Yeah, are you sure? This is the second time in twenty-four hours that this has happened." Bun asked, concerned.

"...I'm certain. I... Just need to... Rest for a bit." Meta Knight said, trying to catch his breath. Watching him carefully, everyone took a step back to give the knight his space. He tried to stand up, but fell to his knee almost immediately. Sword started to try and help him, but was stopped by Meta Knight holding up a hand, signaling that he wanted to stand up on his own. Meta Knight tried to stand up again much more carefully, and succeeded with the aid of a weak flap from his wings before he folded them upon his back once more. He walked over to where his cape lay on the ground, stumbling twice along the way, then shook the dirt off it and put it back on, concealing his wings.

"Fumu, I assume that you remember how to fix the warpstar?" Meta Knight asked as he walked back towards where she and the others were standing.

"Of course I do!" Fumu replied, irritated by the question. "I would never forget anything as important as that!"

"I never said you would. I was just making sure that you knew."

"Hmph." She folded her arms and made sure she looked as offended as possible. Meta Knight sighed at her behavior. He wasn't interested in dealing with Fumu's temper.

"We don't know when King Dedede will order another demonbeast, so stay on your guard and be alert for anything amiss." Meta Knight concluded, then wrapped his cape around himself and began walking towards the castle, soon followed by Sword and Blade. Once they were out of sight, Fumu, Bun, and Kirby exchanged glances then set off to do what they could.


	11. 11: A Hop, Skip, and a Leap of Faith

**Author's Note:** Well. Uh. Have an update. That's all I really have to say. I have a variety of reasons why this chapter took forever, but uh, I'm pretty sure that it's best that I just post this and quietly go hide in the corner.

 **Warning. This chapter contains some possibly unnecessarily detailed gore(?) towards the end. It's probably really disgusting. You have been warned.**

* * *

 _ **Chapter Eleven**_

 ** _A Hop, Skip, and a Leap of Fate_**

A few days after the reveal of Meta Knight's wings, King Deedede was sitting in his throne room with Escargoon nervously standing at his side. Dedede slammed his fist on a button on the arm of his throne, turning the lights in the room off as screens came out of the walls and the transporter readied itself for deliveries.

"Hello Triple D! What demonbeast are you looking for today?"

"I want somethin' betta than that copying mirror! Somethin' new that Kirby and Meta Knight won't see comin'!" The salesguy tilted his head at the mention of Meta Knight. He had to admit thhat he was surprised that Dedede had mentioned the knight.

"Meta Knight? I thought he worked for you."

"He does, but he helps Kirby more than he helps me!" Dedede grumbled. It wasn't fair. Meta Knight had no reason to help that's dumb pink puff instead of the very king the knight served.

"Well, I think we have the perfect demonbeast for you! Introducing... Sorsara!" The salesguy's face was replaced by a image of a demonbeast that had a similar body shape to Kirby, but her skin was a rich boysenberry color. She wore fine white gloves and in her left hand she held a long, pinewood staff that held a triangular sapphire at the end. Her attire was rather strange; it was somewhat like an azure kimono mixed with a robe. But the part of her appearance that stuck out the most was her eyes. Instead of being the typical demonbeast red, they were a bright, intelligent green.

"Sorsara is one of our newest demonbeasts, and she is quite revolutionary if I do say so myself. We have been trying for a long time to make a demonbeast that is truly sentient, yet also powerful and loyal to our cause, and Sorsara is the most successful of those experiments. And, for a limited time, she's going for a 50% off discount!"

"She'll be able to clobber Kirby for sure! Download!" The king pressed the download button, and in a bright flash, the demonbeast Sosara was on the platform, bowing to the king.

* * *

Bun was playing soccer with Hohhe, Iro, and Kirby. Bun and the others were playing quite well, but Kirby, as everyone expected at that point, wasn't doing half as good.

"Come on Kirby! Isn't there at least one game that you aren't bad at?" Kirby responded with a cheerful poyo and attempted to kick the ball, but instead tripped over his feet and fell to the ground with a giggle.

"It's ridiculous how someone so good at fighting can be so clumsy." Hohhe muttered to Iro, and the other child nodded in agreement. Fumu, who was watching from a short distance away, had long finished her book and was now watching for Kirby's sake, sighed and walked to the young star warrior's side.

"Come on Kirby. Let's go visit Whispy." Kirby smiled and nodded, following her as she walked away, ignoring Bun's complaints that the teams were uneven now. As they walked in the woods, Kirby began insistently tugging on the bottom of Fumu's shirt. Exasperated, she turned and asked, "What is it Kirby?"

"Thisty-poyo..."

"Alright, let's look for a brook or something..." Taking hold of Kirby's hand, Fumu hesitated a moment before stepping off the path and walking into the untamed woods. She walked carefully, flinching at every sudden noise. Why had she decided to go visit Whispy so late in the day? The sun was already setting, making it even harder to see in the dark forest. What if they got lost? They might never find their way out... No! Fumu shook her head at her negative thoughts. She couldn't think that way!

Finally, they found a stream. The trees on their side of the bank reached almost all the way to the river, but on the other side the trees were a bit farther away from the water. Kirby let out a happy squeal and rushed up to the bank, drinking up a large quantity of water. Fumu followed a bit slower, having this odd feeling that something wasn't quite right. When nothing popped out of nowhere, she hesitatingly crouched down upon the bank and drank her fill of water. With that done, Fumu looked up at the sky, trying to get a gauge at how late it was getting, but with the thick cover of trees, it was nearly impossible.

"Kirby, maybe we should be heading home..." Fumu said slowly, a touch of nervousness creeping into her voice. It was awfully dark due to the trees blocking out most of the remaining light of the day, and with the knowledge that Nightmare had returned to power echoing within her mind... The young girl shivered. Staying out here was becoming a less and less appetizing idea the longer she thought about it. And yet Kirby was vehemently against leaving.

"No-poyo! Visit Whispy!" The puffball fiercely shook his head, the determination in his eyes clearly saying that if they left, he would just return on his own. Fumu gave a small, nervous laugh.

"Alright... But we can't stay long, okay?" She proposed, trying to appease the star warrior and ignore the nagging voice inside of her saying, 'leave, leave, don't go deeper into the woods, just go home where it's bright and warm and safe and far far away from this scary place." Not noticing her inner conflict, Kirby grinned and gave a happy 'poyo!' and started running back the way they came. Fumu gasped and started running after him, knowing that if they got separated, they might not be able to find each other. And yet, even with her running as fast as she could, Kirby easily outpaced her, and soon he was out of sight.

"Kirby! Kirby! Where did you go?! Come back!" But the child was nowhere to be found. Fumu continued to walk in the direction that she had last seen Kirby, but there were no signs that she was getting anywhere nearer to where the star warrior was. Carefully, Fumu made her way back to the only familiar place she knew how to get to, the stream. The roar of fear and panic only getting louder, she struggled to figure out a way to get out of these woods. After all, if she got out, Kirby might have already gone back home and eaten all the dinner. And she could laugh about how silly she had been, and everything would be okay, right?

The young girl shook her head with a gasp. The logical half knew that wouldn't happen. Kirby would keep wandering in the woods until he found Whispy or was distracted by food if he was left alone. But the part of her consumed by that nameless terror didn't care. It just wanted _out_. She agreed with that, but she had to go about this rationally, or else she could be wandering for weeks, and besides, it would be much easier to find Kirby with help. Let's see... Of course! Fumu could have slapped herself for not thinking of it sooner. She was by a river, right? It had to flow into the ocean at some point. And from there it would be easy to orient herself and find the castle. She crossed over to the other side of the brook, since the trees were thinner over there, and started on her way. However, it was not long before she tripped over a rock and fell to the ground with a grunt, her hands, which had been outstretched to catch herself, sinking into the soft ground. Instantly Fumu felt that something was wrong here. _Soft_ ground? Everything up to there had been solid and refused to give even the slightest bit under her feet. Clearly someone had disturbed the ground here recently, and she wasn't going to find out why. Without a further moment's hesitation, she began to dig.

It wasn't long before Fumu found something out of the ordinary.

She felt it first. It was fuzzy, and it tickled her fingers when they first brushed it. As she felt it a little more, to try to comprehend exactly what it was that she was feeling, she noticed it was squishy, and slightly sticky too.

The smell hit her second. It was an awful, rancid smell, like spoiled fruit, except without any of that sickly sweetness. She was beginning to feel sick to her stomach; that awful smell seemed to be _oozing_ into every inch of her, trying to become part of her.

As she became slightly more adjusted to the smell, that smell you could never forget or truly be comfortable with, she began to hear the sounds. The forest itself was unnaturally quiet, but that didn't even come close to registering in her mind. Instead, all she heard was the squelching sound her hands made whenever they bumped the mysterious object in a certain way. Much like everything else about this... _thing_ she had found, it didn't seem right. It was... unnatural.

Finally, she had enough of the dirt cleared away so that in the last remaining bits of light, Fumu saw what she had unearthed. As the twisted and mauled corpse met her eyes, she screamed.


End file.
